breakerofhorizons

Chapter 61

Nic flexed his hand open and shut, trying to focus in on the feeling of the Aleph.

Antares was ravenous, consuming…

Fomalhaut was violent and shaky, trying to rip free of his control…

Regulus was sickly and addictive, a surging strength in his chest…

Feeling them out, Nic pushed all three’s power down into his left arm. Instantly the limb began to swell and deform, tumors pushing out beneath the skin. Then they shrank away, replaced by glass quills spr...

Chapter 60

Nic dug back to his original tunnel network and dropped down onto the smoothed, tar-covered ground, checking the nearest warding talisman to make sure nobody had broken in while he was away. The talisman was still intact and whole, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Planning for the worst possible luck was one thing. Actually encountering it…

Nic found that when things went wrong, your plans had a way of not mattering one bit.

“Sofia? Any last information you can give me ...

Chapter 59

Nic was still grinning as he sank into the earth and vanished.

The musician was a dangerous, unpredictable opponent, but one who relied on bizarre and surprising attacks to keep an enemy at bay; his physical strength was nothing much to talk about. Luring him into a trap had squarely negated those advantages and forced him into the worst possible position…

And accordingly, he’d had to spend his treasures of last resort to survive and escape.

Even if it wasn’t a kill, i...

Chapter 58: Two Birds, One Stone

The eagle descended with lightning streaming out around its wings, claws outstretched.

Nic flung himself aside and was still caught by the shower of broken rocks as those goliath claws raked the plateau's red stone, sending razor sharp fragments spinning through the air. The sheer wind kicked up by the beast's wings sent him tumbling back, and lightning struck the earth as he rolled onto his feet and clutched Peacemaker tightly.

All the elements of the world were against him. The ...

Chapter 57: Live for the Moment

The stone organ and the eight Aleph marks were fine prizes, but Nic wasn't done with the Valley of Memories quite yet. A quick sweep of the area brought him mixed news. Someone - almost certainly Seoona's soldiers - had ransacked the tombs. The golden burial goods were left untouched, but the weapons and artifacts had been taken. So had the first clear reward for the temple at the valley's base.

But they'd been in a hurry. Many of the tombs were still sealed tight and hidden away, and t...

Chapter 56: Scorpion and Tarantula

Scorpion and tarantula faced each other in combat. The scorpion was a massive armored creature, its body covered by spiked plates of rusting iron. The tarantula was sky blue, with luminous hairs mixed in among its fur, making its body shine and glow. It stood a good two feet taller than the low, crawling body of the scorpion, but the scorpion’s tail made up the distance in height.

The scorpion lunged forward, piercing the air. As its tail struck the earth black rot spread outwards fro...

Chapter 55

(( Hey again. For anyone who wonders where I've been, this post explains fairly well. ))


Nic and the Princess tunneled back beneath the earth. The massive city that had risen from the sands, trembled, and collapsed, was all something of a giveaway. The enemy would probably know they were on the move.

But that didn’t mean they’d misplayed.

Chapter 54

Nic burrowed his way out nearly a mile from their landing point, the Princess scrouging along behind him in the tunnel on her hands and knees. It was slow, sweaty work, but he didn’t want to risk the idea that his enemy might be keeping one eye on the location they crashed into.

As he pushed up, the desert obligingly cast a handful of sand up into his face; they were in the deep desolation of the wastes. There was nothing for miles but the distant shadow of the walls that surrounded t...

Chapter 53

Nic stood up from the dry, dusty earth, the wind casting sand into his eyes. They had landed beyond the walls of the dungeon, beyond the oasis of relative shade and comfort provided by the floating river. The wind was rife with a heat that starved the soul and harrowed the flesh.

Inkspur groaned.

Digging into his pouch, Nic fed the poor beast a restorative fruit and pulled him back into his tattoo, giving him time to heal.

The princess was next.

Nic cut her free, slici...

Chapter 52

Nic lunged for Yvaine. His hands extended into a flurry of blows, unleashing shadows of ash that crashed down like a storm. Yvaine was met and outmatched; her strength was at her limit, and she couldn’t hold on against him. Each blow drove her feet deeper into the earth.

And then his bare palm slammed into her chest.

Yvaine was blown back, her body folding in around the blow, her hair whipping wildly in the wind. Nic catapulted her across the crater and slammed her down into the...

Chapter 51

With the battlefield churned down to a muddy crater, Nic held the absolute advantage in terms of terrain. While Yvaine’s wounds had already sealed, Nic could see that her skin had lost much of its metallic luster, and thin cracks remained spread across the surface- the gift left behind by two baptisms in his Primordial Mist.

Yet in all this time…

She hadn’t used her Shards.

Nic assumed her massive defense stemmed from one Shard. It was possible her four arms, ...

Chapter 50

The wind of the desert poured over them as they descended on the Altar of Night. In the early morning, everything was a shadow overlaid on a background of shadow. The altar was a huge, five-sided monolith of black stone with a slab of white marble lying at its base, stained in rust red. It occupied an island in the shadow of the great Hall of Night, the ominous temple that oversaw the floating river.

A paper ship sat moored to the island’s side.

They saw firelight flickering nea...

Chapter 49

Killing intent.

Nic searched his soul for the meaning of those words.

It seemed impossible he would actually lack the ability to kill; after all, he had done nothing else since arriving. Every step on his path, every obstacle he met along the way, he had solved with violence. Time and time again he had hardened his heart and killed…

His eyes closed as he meditated on those moments…

And found what he was looking for.

It was a cold, raw exhilaration. His killin...

Chapter 48

(( Apologies for missing last week's update. I've decided to return to daily updates, as this schedule doesn't seem to be working out for my peculiarities of focus and attention. I hope everyone understands.))

One by one, the harpies lowered their weapons. His Old Speech had shocked them for long enough to pause the fight, and they saw his glaive at the throat of their sister, poised to end her life.

“Alright…” Nic said carefully, “Let’s talk.”

The one...

Chapter 47

Welcome To

The Scales of Sand

Rise to the heavens

Guide your ship to the Hall of the Sun

Slay the Master of the Hall

(Optional) Slay the False Gods of the Ruins to gain their Boons (1/4)

--or--

Slay the Native interlopers (4/4)

Make a sacrifice on the Altar of Night ...

2022-03-16 10:55:40 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 46:

Nic watched as Talnu’Mo inscribed anchoring marks onto Redjaw’s skin, carefully driving an ink-tipped needle into the slimy, sluggish flesh again and again. It was so sharp it barely hurt, simply leaving behind a simple drop of energy-infused ink. One point after another…

That was how Talnu’Mo built his runes.

Nic couldn’t imagine how demanding the focus required was. It was so much slower than simply drawing onto paper, and Talnu’s mind would have to remain steeled an...

Chapter 45

((Apologies for this being late!))

Nic returned to Winterhome triumphant, the sun setting golden over the trees. Carving his way through six Trials was exhilarating, and had won him a giddy sense of progress, coming home stronger than he’d left it…

The city was buzzing.

He took a seat high on the spires of the temple that overlooked his little city, scrambling up on sticky hands and perching in the wind to watch people scurry below. Inkspur fluttered down besi...

Chapter 44

Nic watched the earth surge and ripple at the movement of his hand. Each gesture caused the mud to surge, reaching up tendrils, shaping itself at his command. With a casual movement he could unseat trees from their roots.

3000…

3500…

4000…

4500…

He pushed the Shard to its limits, the ninth rank, one step from receiving another vision. With each step he found the earth easier to manipulate, flowing faster under his hand....

Chapter 37

It took painstaking, slow effort to build the bones of the Sigil. Each circle, each set of points and lines like constellations, took a careful hand to grow from nothing. The concept of the Sigil was blazing inside his head, allowing him to stabilize his will and his Essence as they flowed down through his hand. Even so… His energy had to become a single, continuous thing, a river that poured into itself in a perfect circle. It was a balance even a single tremor of his will would destroy…...

Chapter 36

Nic spent a good amount of time with Kline, helping him plant the new herbal specimens in his strange, demonic garden. The soil was dark and good, crumbling wetly under their fingers as they dug. Each time they implanted a new breed of herb, Kline would push energy into the plant with his Shard, feeding it until the faint wilt at the edges receded and a green, robust health returned to the specimen.

It was good work, and it helped Nic shake off the lingering memory of the cherry forest....

Chapter 35

((Chapter Warning - Gore))

Nic felt with agonizing clarity the moment his body began to ‘die’ in the illusionary world. It was when the thorned branches of the cherry tree growing within him pushed up through his veins, tearing their way out of his skin, unfolding into the world.

For a moment he was forced to rely on his crystalline vision to remain calm, his eyes allowing him to pierce through and see that the thorned vines were nothing. A creation contained solely within his...

Chapter 34

As Nic and Tarquin returned to Winterhome, a familiar shape flitted through the air to meet them, a small as Nic’s hand but ferociously loud.

“The TRIUMPHANT HERO returns! From the DESERT SANDS were NO MAN CAN WALK without FEELING THE SHADOW OF DEATH UPON HIS BACK!” Inkspur belowed, circling around them happily.

For all that the cat-like, snobby dragon pretended not to care…

He sure was happy when Nic came home.

They set down on the ground, Inkspur fluttering o...

Chapter 33

Li Blackleaf, the old ghost Nic had unleashed from the frozen world, stood before them. To Nic’s surprise he didn’t make any aggressive motions.

He simply spoke.

“Beh, what a way to find you. I search for days, and then that damn beacon drags me right to your doorstep.” His crooked old voice sung. “What a way to treat your old master…”

“Master…?” Tarquin asked, incredulous.

“Of course! He learned my technique, did he not?”

“Okay.” Nic ...

Chapter 32

He sailed across the sky on Tarquin’s back, following to where the nearest of the pillars had arisen. As they landed, the woods were full of life. Confused, blinking life - a giant, bipedal bird with clawed feet and a fearsome reptilian muzzle tried to snarl at them, until Nic unleashed his aura and sent every living thing scattering for cover.

Clearly, the Second Wave had seeded new monsters as well as natural treasures. Nic would have to do the work of driving the most pestilent of ...

Chapter 31

Pills. In bamboo vials, they smelled fragrant and sweet. There were dozens of different vials, each labeled in the same tidy script. The bug must have had some talent alchemy, because there were simple tools as well, a mortar and pestle alongside a small cauldron furnace covered in runes that shrank and expanded it.

Then there were weapons. The bug hadn’t just carried the paintbrush as a killing tool - there was a wicked sickle, its chipped inner edge lined with a greasy, mossy natura...